Posted on 11/23/2007 3:54:23 AM PST by shrinkermd
At a John Deere plant here, bright green tractors bound for Brazil, Russia and China roll off assembly lines. Global demand for tractors is good, and that's been good for Waterloo.
Yet over the last couple of years, workers and voters in this blue-collar manufacturing outpost -- and throughout Iowa -- have grown decidedly downbeat about globalization. Trade has become such a hot subject that Democratic presidential candidates seeking support in Iowa's influential Jan. 3 caucuses are turning into trade skeptics, and the issue is splitting traditionally free-trade Republicans.
Iowa's ambivalence is all the more remarkable because the state is on the whole a big winner from global trade. "Iowa, as much as any other state, is on the plus side of the ledger," says James Leach, a 30-year Republican congressman from Iowa who now runs Harvard University's Institute of Politics. "It would be highly ironic if pro-protectionist candidates prevailed in the Iowa caucuses." Trade wasn't always such a high priority: In the 2004 Iowa caucus, Richard Gephardt, the most outspoken Democrat on the issue, attracted so few votes he subsequently pulled out of the race.
As the 2008 presidential election approaches, anti-trade sentiment is percolating across America. It is particularly strong in places like Ohio, where foreign competition has decimated jobs. The latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll1 conducted earlier this month found that 60% of voters nationwide agreed with the statement that "foreign trade has been bad for the U.S. economy."
...the global economy has been good for the state. Boosted by the ethanol and biofuels craze and surging demand for crops and farm equipment world-wide, Iowa's exports are up 77% over the past four years versus 50% nationally. The state's unemployment rate hovers around 3.7%, below the national 4.6% average.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
The politicians should know better, but their goal is getting elected. Weep for reason!
I agree with you.
Cretinous.
The only form of "bad trade" is where someone sells you something that is bad for you, like Class A drugs or Socialism.
We hear such super-assinine remarks from the Global Whiners.
Keep telling how wages have risen over the last three decades.
A: The entry-level wage has fallen at an individual corporation, therefore
B: wages are falling across all levels at all corporations.
Hardly anyone is advocating a trade war. We on this board who oppose these agreements recognize that, given the lack of comaparitive advantages the U.S. has over foreign manufacturing, these agreements tend to shift jobs out of the U.S.
Notice how the WSJ completeley ignores the low wages, un-monitored working conditions and other myriad factors that give places like China an unfair advantage.
Most of us are advocating fair trade.
Republicans, meanwhile, have made the political calculation that most Americans want to see a continuation of open borders because it means cheaper goods and a stronger U.S. economy.
Open borders? Is that what Republican are now officially espousing on their platform?
I disagree (to a point), jobs have been decimated in every city, county and state in America.
We have NAFTA, CAFTA and soon SAFTA, and they are all one way.
Cute strawman. However, you must be right. Once that entry level worker gets his first raise he will be getting pay parity.
Of course, those of us who know better, recognize that that entry level worker's wages will always stay at a lower level than previous workers.
That, and the whole immigration debacle, is forcing the Republican candidates into pander-mode earlier than usual.
Well...no one is forcing these folks to work at John Deere. And no one is forcing them to live in Waterloo, either.
The only good union is a dead union.
A dying union is very dangerous. Steel workers union is especially dangerous to America.
Okay. Show me one place in manufacturing where entry level wages are higher now then, say, twenty years ago.
In 1978 I started at U.S. Steel at $7/hr. Taking into account inflation that would translate into a starting wage of $22/hr. Show me a place that has entry level wages that high.
Been listening to Rush?
The point is that the future of America is at stake. These types of jobs used to sustain middle America. Now, capitalists can't look past the next quarter. It doesn't matter to them if we lose our middle class as long as they get their next bonus.
That premise (Total compensation) is flawed, too. I paid nothing for better health care insurance in 1978 than now. I am paying about half the premium and the company the other half. Thirty years ago they paid it all.
I don’t have a problem with comapanies parting out some manufacturing. It’s the wholesale slaughter of our manufacturing base in the name of coparate bonuses that I despise.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.